Identifying the Problem – It Wasn’t Sugar Addiction

Transitioning from my last diet to intuitive eating required me to take a long, hard look at a highly debated topic: sugar addiction.

I really was convinced that I was a sugar addict. I went so far as to give up sugar, all sweeteners, and flour of any kind for over 6 months.

If I’m honest with myself, I have to say that I absolutely felt better. My constant cravings and my insatiable hunger basically disappeared. As a scientist though, I know that correlation and causation are not the same thing. The absence of those symptoms as a result of removing those ingredients from my life doesn’t mean they were the cause.

It made sense for me then. It was the answer I needed. I was convinced I was addicted to sweeteners and flours and that giving them up would bring me peace. I was totally convinced by the CEO of BLE that this was the only way to find peace with food and my weight.

When I started Bright Line Eating back in August 2017, I wanted what the tagline promised – “Happy, Thin, and Free” (http://brightlineeating.com). I worked the program and got to my goal weight in January 2018. For two months, I maintained my weight. If anything, I was continuing to slowly lose more weight! Unfortunately, even after my weight-loss success, freedom was eluding me. It was time for me to figure out why!

The path I was on which led me to Bright Line Eating (www.brightlineeating.com) probably started when I was in junior high. It wound through several diets, successful attempts at weight loss and subsequent weight gain. The decision I made in August 2017 to try Bright Line Eating was definitely a good one. I want to share the truths about my habits and my life that led me to that place. This will be the first post in a 3 post series that talks about what led me to Bright Line Eating, what I loved and needed most from it, and what I’m continuing to struggle with as I work to find a more reliable peace around food. I don’t recommend reading this post if you find yourself triggered by discussions of weight or specific foods.

Every Wednesday, Susan Pierce Thompson, the founder of Bright Line Eating , puts out a weekly video blog. I’ll link to it below if you want to watch it. The topic for the week was the place of Bright Line Eating recipes within the food plan. This really piqued my interest. In this prior post, I talked about how I’m learning to break away from the cookbook mentality but I started reflecting even more on this topic as a result of the vlog. This is an important topic and it warrants a bit more time and energy, hence this post.

Guacamole is delicious! I don’t eat it as much as I used to since changing up my food plan but when I DO make it, there are almost certainly leftovers because my portion size is limited. That poses a particular challenge: how do I keep it from turning brown?

I started following the Bright Line Eating food plan 174 days ago. Once I made the decision to do it (as I wrote about here), I needed to figure out what I was supposed to eat. TGFA. As in, thank God for Amazon.

I have tried a lot of “diets” and if there was a cookbook available, I at least seriously considered getting it. I think the first I bought was the South Beach Diet followed by the LA Weightloss Cookbook. Several years later, I tried a 7 day intense cleanse and most recently, I bought the Fast Metabolism Diet Cookbook. Also in the mix was a neat book called “How to Cook Without a Book” which I highly recommend if you want to learn to cook more easily.

I took to Instagram a few weeks ago as a way to share what I’ve been eating on my food plan and to get ideas and inspiration. I found that AND I also learned an important lesson.

There are a lot of people getting introduced to Bright Line Eating (www.brightlineeating.com) and there are more and more users on IG everyday sharing beautifully composed photos of tasty looking food. Check out #brightlineeating and #brightlinebites if you are curious. Some of the pictures look too good to eat.